BlackBerry Live Keynote: BB10 now offers 120,000 apps

Speaking during his BlackBerry Live Keynote speech, BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins has confirmed that the fledgling operating system now supports some 120,000 BlackBerry 10 apps.

Still flagging considerably behind the hundreds of thousands of apps found across both Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android platforms, the BlackBerry 10 system has started life strongly, launching with just 70,000 back in January.

Having surpassed the 100,000 BlackBerry 10 apps milestone back in March, the Canadian manufacturer has revealed this figures has now increased further, with the past two months seeing the company’s Windows Phone rivalling platform near in on its apps offering.

“One third of application developers are now targeting BlackBerry 10 as their primary platform,” BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins said after confirming there are now 120,000 BlackBerry 10 apps available. “Thanks to all our developers for doing this with and for us.”

Although the BlackBerry 10 app figures are blossoming, the Apple and Samsung rival and come in for criticism due to the lack of high-profile applications, with WhatsApp having only just made the jump to the BB10 platform and the likes of Instagram still missing from the BlackBerry World app outlet.

Addressing these issues back in March, Martyn Mallick, BlackBerry’s Vice President of Global Alliances stated: “Top brands and application providers are joining us every day and are seeing the benefits of being early supporters of the new platform. We constantly hear from developers that the BlackBerry 10 tools are easy to build with and that we provide opportunities for app differentiation that they do not see on other platforms.”

Attempting to offer reassurance on the company’s drive to add high-end, recognisable apps, Heins today stated: “Today I can confirm that Moog, the legendary synthesiser, is launching their application of BlackBerry 10 later this week.”

With BlackBerry 10 still a somewhat limited platform, BlackBerry added to its BB10 handset line-up, with the already available BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 bolstered by the arrival of the BlackBerry Q5, a budget QWERTY hosting device set to target budget and emerging markets.